I'm not discussing here the brute causes of rape or society's indifference towards it. I've some other issues that are related to fornication and sin for commercial reasons. Looking back at the history of Christian empires, we come across slew of stories and precedents where fornication and similar sins were dealt with the most severest and violent way.

Islam has also very clear, strict and well defined rules against this activity outside marriage. Modern society has an indifferent attitude against it. We either ignore or condone this act as long as it doesn’t hit us personally. Of course, there is nothing new in appreciating, admiring and respecting the fairer sex. It is a universal phenomenon.

In
Focus

I can still vividly recollect a cold Sunday afternoon at Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park, London decades ago when a well mannered, well shaped eloquent British girl encountered the battery of preachers from all the faiths who had occupied the best positions. “Please define me SIN! Is enjoyment a sin? Who committed the third sin after Adam and Eve?” With the boisterous support of hecklers she went further. “Is it a sin if I kiss you out of sheer admiration?” Those great orators were thrown out of gear for a moment with this unexpected verbal onslaught. But their freshly florid faces were set abeam against this piquant possibility. They gave the expected answers best suited to their status and abilities.

What about someone who had willingly participated in a sexual display for commercial gain? How a modern society should respond? I would repeat here the same underlined words from the previous paragraph. Next question: What about someone who has repented, is repenting or is willing to repent after the sin?

Here are stories of two hapless girls who had fallen prey to this vicious sin: Tera Myers and Stacy Hallas. Episode of Hallas is very fresh. She was a science teacher, well loved and competent in her job till her ugly past undid her present. The administration of Richard B Hydock International School at Oxnard tumbled upon her murky past unintentionally. She is 32 today and she was a former adult actress. She did hide her past. Hallas was not accused of committing any crime.

Hallas said that she lied about her past because of shame. District Superintendent Jeff Chancer maintained that her presence would be a ‘recurring disruption’ and she was no longer a fit role model for students. Judge Julie Cobos-Owen wrote in her judgment: “Her propensity for dishonesty is a primary reason not to let her back. She failed to establish that she can be trusted as a role model for children or an example of redemption.” She was fired.

The case of Myers is identical but more pathetic. She was an effective science teacher at Parkway North High School in St. Louis, Missourie. Having always been the recipient of favorable assessment reports all was fine in her life till one day a minor student broke the law by possessing and viewing an adult film in which Terry had acted 20 years ago. The minor mischievously exposed her past to public. The doom was declared. Ironically, it was not the first time.

She had been forced to resign from her previous job also. In 2006, she was teaching in Paucah, Kentucky under a false name Terico Dye. A footballer there watched her adult video and made several copies. Her secret past was now a public property. She was booted out.

Appearing on Dr. Phil’s TV show she said that she had always received favorable reviews. Many students and teachers supported her with the exception of one colleague who recommended that she should not be kept as a teacher because her past was sinful. This sinful act had happened 20 years ago. Dr. Phil asked: “How a school could be sure she wouldn’t go back to adult industry?” She replied: “I’ve got my medications. I’ve found God. I’ve got my education. I’ve done everything I could possibly do to prove that I’m a different person now.”

Anybody there listening? No! It was America. She was on the road again.

“Let all bitterness, and wrath and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And ye be kind one to another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:31)

The words ‘repent’, ‘repentance’ and ‘repented’ are mentioned over 100 times in Bible. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out...” Act 3:19

“Mujhe Jeeney Do” was a bold and beautiful film made by Sunil Dutt in which he had tried to tackle the plight of a reformed individual. I am under excruciating mental stress and can’t reach upon any conclusion about the fate of the two ex-adult actors. Were the judgments of courts and actions of the administration fair in the eyes of God and society?